Suds in The Bucket
by Roseprincess1
Summary: Fifth in the "Angel" series.
1. Default Chapter

Suds in the Bucket: Part 1

I should have known that if my folks, my mom at least were less than reasonable about their daughter having a relationship with an autobot, that Alyssa's would be some where next to psychotic. I was hoping how ever that she might neglect to mention it to her folks. No such luck. I have to give the girl credit though; she did possibly the smartest thing she could have done in breaking the news to the folks back home. She told her Dad before she told her Mom and step Dad.

Wheeljack was there with her in the com center, fortunately shrunk down to human size,as she punched it in on her cell phone.

"Now remember Jack, my Dad's family is more than a little bit strange."

"This coming from a girl who's dating me," he grinned at her.

"Point taken," She agreed as she turned back to the phone.

A few seconds later some one finally answered on the other end, "Hello?"  
"Dad?"  
The response was instantaneous.

"Hey there, how are you? Your Mom called the other day and asked me if you were down here."

"Well as you can see I'm not," She grinned into the phone.

"No kidding?" He paused and shifted the phone around some, "So where are you any how?"

"Well starting off I was with Angel, she needed some one to look after her."

"Oh you mean ya found her?" her dad asked.

"Oh yeah I found her, and yeah she's okay and everything."

"So where are you at now?"

Alyssa took a deep breath, "Well I'm in Oregon."

"Uhh…Why?"

"Well to be honest I wanted to come here, with my…"

"With your what Alyssa?" her Dad prompted.

"Well I wanted to come here with my friend and my new boyfriend."

She proceeded to hold the phone away from her ear and count down.

"Ten… nine…eight…seven…six…five…"

"YOUR WHAT!?" he got out.

She put the phone back up to her ear, "That was good four seconds early."

"You have a boyfriend?" He sounded amazed, "Since when do you have a boy friend."

"Well since Angel got married." She looked over at Wheeljack and grinned.

The engineer turned his eyes sky ward and shook his head.

"Your friend got what?"

"Married ya know, man and wife, the ole ball and chain?"

"I know what married means Alyssa, its just you told me that this Angel girl is as bad as you were when it came to getting on with life."

One thing you all out there should note, Alyssa's family have always been very traditional southerners. Thusly, they think that women need to run off and get married and have kids as soon as possible.

"Well what can I say, she found the guy she was looking for like a bolt out of the blue dad. One of his friends met me and gave me a ride out to find her when she went missing and it's been love ever since."

"Don't lie!" Wheeljack hissed.

"That is so unlike you Alyssa," He father was getting more and more pleased by the second. "Okay then, tell me what this prince charming of your'sis like."

"Well he's not a …"

Her Dad interrupted her, "And when are you two gonna tie the knot and make it official. Ya know when you do your Grandma is gonna have to plan the wedding for you. You don't let that woman plan your wedding and we are gonna be hearing about it from now till the end of time."

"But Dad we're not even sure….!" Again she was interrupted.

"How many kids are you gonna have by the way? You are gonna name the first boy after me right? Make sure you pick out a good name for the girls too. We need some names in this family with character."

"But…!" She was now being almost completely drowned out.

"Oh yeah, and you gotta bring this guy down here to Texas so all'a us can meet him down here."  
He paused for breath and she finally managed to get something in edge wise.

"Well Daddy, I'd love to bring him down there, its just I'm not sure what you guys will think when you meet him. Not to mention the fact that Chris and mom are gonna go bonkers when they see him."

"Oh hunny, how bad can it be? I mean it's not like you went off and married Hitler. 'Sides as long as your really in love with him dose it really matter what any one else thinks? I mean you are a grown woman after all."

"You try telling that to _them_." She sighed.

"Now don't worry about it, your Mom goes nuts your family here will help you deal with her."

She looked at the phone, "I don't believe you."

Her dad laughed, "Don't worry about it. Now then let me talk to this wonderful guy who managed to convince my girl to finally have a normal life."

"IF you only knew dad," She held out the phone to Wheeljack, "Here jack, my Dad wants to talk to you."

Wheeljack looked at the phone she was holding out to him for a moment like it was radio active and then gingerly took the thing from her.

"Hello? Sir?"

That was all it took to get her father going. Twenty minutes later when Optimus and I finally headed into the com center to see what happened to them, we found 'Jack there with one of the most embarrassed looks on the planet in his eyes and Alyssa standing not to far off doing her level best to try and not crack up at the treatment he was getting from her family.

"No sir," He flushed into the phone, "Well to be honest I don't know if that's even possible… I mean… What I mean is its not that I wouldn't… it's just that… I'm not sure how…NO WAIT that's not what I meant it's just…"

I giggled at his predicament. "So I see you've introduced Jack to your dad?"

"Not that obvious is it?" She grinned at me.

Optimus looked at him, "And just how long has he been on there?"

Alyssa shrugged. "I dunno, what time is it?"

I shook my head at her, "Hadn't you better rescue the poor guy? You don't want his audios fried."

She gave a very theatrical sigh and finally agreed, "Oh fine, Ruin all of my fun." Then she grinned and reached over to pluck the phone out of the exasperated Wheeljack's grasp and started talking to her folks again.

"We have to go Dad, Jack has to go back to work. Yes, yes, I promise to call you later and let you know what's up." She paused, "Thanks again, you take care… Love you too."

Wheeljack shook his head at my self and Optimus, "I've never seen any sentient being that talks that MUCH!"

Alyssa closed the phone and looked back at him, "You haven't met the rest of my family love. They are just this side of impossible to get off the phone."

"No kidding," I grinned.

"HEY! What's that supposed to mean?" She glared at me.

"Not a thing dear not a thing." I smiled and then sobered up a bit, "So have you called your mom yet and let her know?"

"No, now I have to do that," Her face contorted in a manner that made her look like shed just swallowed some kind of insect.

"Well you'd better get it over with," Optimus advised, "The sooner you get it over with the less time you have to worry about it."

"I worried that there wont be any thing left of me of me to worry about it when my mom and step dad get done with me."


	2. Suds in The Bucket: Part 2

Suds in the Bucket: Part 2

The next morning Alyssa was back in the com center with cell phone and Wheeljack in tow and a look of complete and utter dread plastered all over her face.

The fact of the matter was, when she called her step family they were more than likely to tell her to A) get her aft home right then or B) promptly disown her or C) tell her she was going to roast in hell for falling in love with some one that didn't fit what people around her saw as the idea of normal. I knew that they'd do this to her because I had seen it my self. When I had first met the girl there had been one point where her mother had flat out forbid her to talk to me because she thought that I was wrapped up in things that would mess with her mind.

Honestly? I had no intention of corrupting Alyssa. As far as I was concerned she was a grown woman and had the right to make what ever choices she wanted. Good or bad. But I could sympathize with her, I have a just slightly over protective mother my self and forcing a parent like that to admit a person is no longer a child is just this side of impossible. I was still waiting to hear my own mother start on My relationship with Optimus. I full well intended to tell her that her little girl had grown into a woman a very long time ago and that there wasn't anything she could or for that matter had a right to do when it came right down to it. Of course we all know how wonderfully that works right?  
So knowing that and knowing what was most likely coming for my poor best friend. I was there in the com center my self that morning, fully prepared to give any kind of back up I could.

Wheeljack on the other hand was the closest I had ever seen the engineer to mad. For some reason the idea of controlling parents made him want to reach across the screen and give them a piece of his processor at the very least. I thought that even if I didn't get a chance to say anything at all. Watching those two get themselves taken down a peg or two by this guy would be worth it.

And so there I was when the phone crackled to life.

"ALYSSA!?" Her mother promptly shouted from the other side of the phone, "Where are you young lady!?"

"Didn't you get a chance to talk to Dad mom?" Alyssa asked.

"I did, and he told me that you're in Oregon! What are you doing in Oregon!?"

"Well to be perfectly honest I came here to spend some time with my guy."

There was a pause on the other end of the phone, "You're what?"

"Guy, fella, boyfriend, significant other… how hard is it to comprehend that concept?" She was beginning to get more than a lil' bit exasperated.

That was when her step dad proceeded to take the phone from her mother, "NOW you listen here young lady! You're going to get your self home this instant you hear me? Either you do that or so help me you never going to leave this house again you spoiled brat."  
That was when Wheeljack started fuming and reached over to pluck the phone out of Alyssa's hands. "JACK DON'T!!"

"Excuse me sir, but did you just call Alyssa a spoiled brat?" He almost snarled into the thing.

"Yeah that's what she is, never dose any thing I say, never listens to a word I say, always shows her attitude when I have anything to…"

"SHUT UP!" Wheeljack roared into the thing, "Now _SIR_ you are going to listen to me. She has a right to do what ever she chooses and when ever she chooses. Granted she dose live at your house on _OCCASION,_ but that doesn't give you the right to tell her how to think or what to do."

"HOW D…."

"I _wasn't finished_," The engineer growled again, "She has a right to make her own choices and just because you want to be a controlling jerk doesn't mean that she has to put up with it. She's told me how you act towards her over the last few days."  
"What did she…"  
"I told you _I wasn't finished!_" Jack told him again, "Now I don't know how or why you are that way, maybe it's just the step parent thing. But I will not allow any one to get on her case. NOW if you would like to hear the details of what's going on I'll give you back to her so she can tell you. BUT if I hear you go off on her again I'm getting back on."

With that jack handed the phone back to a slightly shocked Alyssa and motioned for her to continue.

"Where dose your boyfriend get off Alyssa?" Her step dad asked.

She shrugged, "He's his own person, what can I tell you."

"Where exactly in Oregon are you?"

"Near Portland, right next to mt. Saint Hillary," she told him.

"You had better stay there, your mother and I will be there to pick you up in two days from now and I want you to…"

"You know, I don't really care. I've been living in my own apartment for a long time now. You can't tell me what to do…"

"Just be ready when we get there or else…" With that the phone went dead.

Alyssa sighed and nearly tossed the phone into the wall, "oh that's just what I needed here, really. My mom and my nut case step dad."

"So? Now what?" I asked.  
"Oh the same old same old, my parents are now on their way to kill me. Their gonna be here in two days and wreak all kinds of havoc and I can't do a thing to stop them."

"I wouldn't worry if I were you, considering how Jack just, well if you will pardon the pun dear, jacked up their ears."

She smiled a bit over that one, "The problem is I didn't get to tell them who Jack really is. Neither side would let me get a word in edge wise."

This time Wheeljack turned to her, "Alyssa please don't worry about it okay? I promise I won't pull any thing on your parents."  
"I know you won't Jack, I'm just afraid of what they are going to do or say to you."  
He was human sized again so he could talk on her phone with out smooshing it, so he didn't have to change form or size as he walked over to her and put arms around her.

"Considering all that we've gone through already, I don't think there's any thing out there that could change the way that we feel about each other."

"Your right," She smiled up at him and leaned up to place a smooch on his face plate. "Well we have two days to kill before either of them gets here."

"That's true," Some where under there Wheeljack grinned, "Your good at computer games right? Come on I've been looking for some one to help me with some thing."

With that the two of them left the com center and I followed slowly behind them. This was a change in Wheeljack's personality for me. Though they say that love makes people act in very odd ways, and I guess autobots are no exception to that rule.  
Their love wasn't the earth shaking kind that pierced you right down to your soul, it was very different from what Optimus and I had going on. But it was a good kind of love none the less. I was happy that Alyssa had someone to truly stand by her and not put any exceptions on what they felt.

It was going to be an interesting couple of days until her folks got here. As I wondered off to find my own autobot for once I actually found my self looking forward to seeing what would happen.


	3. Suds in The Bucket : Part 3

Suds in The Bucket: Part 3

I would have thought that Alyssa would have spent the two days waiting for her parents to get there in complete and utter dread. Mainly because this is what I would have done my self. My ex drill sergeant father and a mother that I was convinced was some what hyper when she was mad would have typically come down on me with something that was akin to the wrath of God. The fact that they hadn't still had me some where between stunned and shocked. So I was convinced that she'd be the same way.

Wheeljack however turned out to be if not as clever as Optimus in the art of circumnavigation of problems; very skilled in keeping the girl's mind off of what was coming. I found this out the next morning when I came out to the main part of the base and found a her sitting there with her own laptop battling furiously in an on line game and Wheeljack standing behind her giving her tips and help in beating the snot out of the person she was engaged in slaughtering.

"Come on, that's it! A lil' more to the left!" he coached.

"I'm getting him, this moron isn't going to get away from me!" she crowed back.

Naturally in the environment that the ark presented, a bunch of guys running around and at least half of them with the mentality of college age, they were attracted to this like bees to spilled soda. And all of them where cheering her on with the gusto of the aforementioned age party.

I wondered out and found a very amused Optimus standing slightly off to one side with a grin buried some where under there.

"So what's she doing?" I asked as I walked up.

"Well she was on line for a while and went into one of the game rooms. There was some one in there bragging that they were the best and couldn't ever be beat no matter what."

"Oh lord," I had to shake my head at that one.

I was about to open my mouth to say more when from one of the lounges there rang out a wail of utter and complete defeat. Now for the most part the idea of hearing a transformer make a noise like that would be some thing that, I nor any one out there would ever wanna hear. It's a lot louder than, and powered by something with a greater vocal capacity than even the greatest opera singers. But this wail had a note to it that made every one rather than cringe away, go running to see what the problem was.  
We didn't have to wait long. The problem was Sunstreaker, he came out of the lounge with the most tragic expression on that perfect face of his, I thought for a moment some one must have offed his brother. This however was proven false a few seconds later when a smirking Sideswipe emerged on his heals.

"HOW," Demanded Sunny, "HOW could any one out there on that miserable contraption ever possibly beat me at my game!!? MY game!"

He continued to fume his way in our direction. Alyssa discreetly looked up from her laptop and Wheeljack and all of the others wiped the grins off of their faces.

"What's the matter Sunstreaker?" She blinked at him innocently.

"Someone beat me at MY Game!" The gold Lamborghini screeched.

"Oh I'm sorry," She shook her head in a pitying manner, "Well maybe the next game you play will be better."

He walked off still fuming and she grinned evilly back at her laptop.   
"Hehehe," She hit the save key, "Take that "Goldenglory."

Now I was about to crack up my self.

"You are impossible you know that?" I grinned at her, "Now you do realize what he's going to do to you when he realizes that you're the one that beat him?"

"Oh know very well what he's going to do when he finds out, and I plan on handing him his spoiler in a sack at any single game he challenges me to."

I rolled my eyes sky ward, "Well anything to keep you occupied, I suppose."

Optimus and I wondered off into the base, he had some things to take care of and I still wanted to get some kind of writing down on disk. So we both took of to try and get our respective jobs done. Why I thought it'd be peaceful was beyond me. I was proven right when we all heard Sunstreaker start up once he found out who Spitfire was.

"YOU!!" He glared down his nose at Alyssa.

She simply smiled at him and he spluttered at her. "You little…."

"I'll take you on any time any place golden rod!" she told him.

I wandered back around to see what the issue was and found Wheeljack there watching this with a very funny grin on his face underneath his face plate.

"Well what are you so smug about?" I asked him.

"Just happy that I've managed to keep her mind off of her parents coming here," he looked down at me, "Angel to be honest, I'm scared."

"Of what Jack?" I looked back from him to where Alyssa and Sunny were verbally having it out with each other.

"Well I'm just scared that she's …"

"She's going to listen to her parents and go with them?"

He looked down, "yeah."

I smiled up at him, "I wouldn't worry if I were you Jack. She very much wants to be here."

"I know I'm just having jitters I know," he shrugged.

I smiled up at him, "I think your doing a fabulous job of keeping it under control, and keeping her happy to."

"Hehe, well SOMEONE'S needed to take C-3PO down a peg or two for a very long time."

I grinned back at the argument, "Well she dose seem to have a lot of talent for putting those that need it in to their place don't she?"

He laughed over that one and we turned back to the argument that had now progressed into a discussion of which games and when they were going to be played. I heard it coming but I didn't believe that it was possible, but there was Sunstreaker ticking off games on his fingers and telling demanding that she play all of them against him at some point in the near future.

"Oh no, first practical joke invasion and now a gaming tournament," I turned and pointed at the arguing pair, "Some one had better stop them before one goes and decides to challenge the other to DDR."

That got a couple of glares from the irate gamers and more than a few giggles from the surrounding crowd that was watching all of this. Still it took another ten minutes before the whole mess got settled and they decided what games were going to be involved. I finally got tired of listening to them and wondered off to go see what my bot was up to.

I found him nose deep in something and started to head out when he motioned me back into the office.

"Don't take off, I'm almost finished here." He motioned to the screen.

"Okay," I walked over and craned my neck to get a look at what was on his screen, "So what are you working on there?"

"This? This isn't any thing important really." I could see him grin.

"Come on, tell me what it is?" I flashed the patented puppy dog eyes look I'd learned from Alyssa.

"Well if you must know, I got put in charge of keeping track of the scoring."

"Scoring?" I looked at him at a loss.

"Of the little thing Alyssa and Sunstreaker have going on." He grinned at me again.

I felt my mouth fall open, "YOU got involved in that?"

"Involved in it, well I suppose that's one way of putting it," He looked up innocently.

I shook my head and leaned against his desk, "tell me, have you actually been doing any work in here to day?"  
"Hey, even I am allowed to have some fun. Least I'm not running the betting pool."

I shook my head over that one, "Don't wanna know, not gonna ask."

He hit the last few keys on his screen and then shut the thing off, "Come on, we'd better get out there if we wanna get some good seats."

"For some reason this doesn't suit you at all you know that?" I grinned at him for a change as he changed size to meet mine.

"No probably not, but what can I say?" He shrugged innocently and I had to laugh at him.

"Silly thing," I grabbed him by the arm and gave him a good tug, "Well come on, lets go see this."


	4. Suds in The Bucket: Part 4

Suds in the Bucket: Part 4

By the time we made it back to the main lounge the whole tourney between Sunstreaker and Alyssa had been completely set up and they were working on who got to go first. It came down to a game of rock, paper, scissors to see which of them got to go. I guess it must have caused Sunny some kind of physical pain when she won that too.

That settled, Sideswipe produced his gaming console out from some where and began to lay down the law about what the rules were and how they were going to be played. The first game turned out to be the ole crowd pleaser "Doom", he set this in to competition mode and let the two of them have at it. All around them were various autobots each of them either cheering on their champion Sunny, or hoping that he got him self taken down a peg or two by this little human.

I was having a good time watching this when I noticed that Sider's was busy working the crowd over for something.

"Sideswipe?" I looked up at him.

He suddenly gave me the look like the little boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar and smiled.

"What do you want mam?" He grinned.

"First off, DON'T call me mam, I'm not old enough to be a "mam". Second tell me what the Sam hill you are doing?"

He promptly shoved a hand full of credits out of sight, "This, oh this is nothing really it's just…"

"It's just him running the betting pool," Optimus finished dryly.

"Sorry sir, I can stop if you…" He trailed off as Optimus held up his hand.

"That's not really necessary," The leader grinned beneath his mask then pulled out some of his own credits, "But what you can do is give me five on Alyssa."

I gapped, Sideswipe gapped, and every one else who was in ear shot gapped. The former merchant recovered quickly enough and proceeded to take the credits from Optimus and hand him some kind of claim check. Sideswipe finally wandered off and I looked up at Prime.

"You mind telling me what that was all about?"

"As a matter of fact I do, but since you're you I will." Another smile, "I think it's high time someone gave Sunny a lesson in gaming etiquette and I think Alyssa is just the person to do it."

I stared at him for a few moments and then, "You are TERRIBLE!" I put my head in his lap and proceeded to crack up over what I had just heard and witnessed.

That was when the huge war whoop came from the gaming console and I looked up to see Sunstreaker start fuming and Alyssa hold up the controller in victory.

"In your face Golden rod!!"

"Don't you dare get cocky on me you little…" he couldn't come up with some kind of insult that would match his fury, "Girl!" he finally managed.

"Gee Sunny," the grin on her face just got that much more evil, "I thought you flunked gender identification 101."

Several people in the back, my self included started cackling like Hyena's over that one. Sunstreaker just sat there trying to come up with some thing and failing miserably.

"Let's just get on with the next game!" He finally managed to snarl out.

"Oh so twice wasn't enough huh?" She picked up her controller and smiled, "So what are they setting us up with this time?"

"Free space." The yellow car told her.

"Hmm…Flip you for settings." She held out a quarter to him.

"No thanks," He smiled, "Just to show you what a good sport I am I'll let you program it."

I heard that and grinned to my self, then leaned over to Optimus.

"You put your money on her again?" I asked him.

The leader nodded at me, "Why? You know something I don't?"

Another smile from me, "As a matter of fact I do." I pointed at the diorama up front, "She's going to murder him this time."

"And what pray tell makes you say that?"

I dropped my voice some to make sure sunny couldn't hear me, "She knows all the codes to this game. She's gonna have the thing programmed around her lil finger."

"You're kidding?" he looked at me.

"No I'm not; I got my butt handed to me by her at that game when she first got it."

He shook his head at me and then leaned back into his seat. Mean while, across the room Sideswipe must have known the same thing about the game that I did, because he was over there encouraging people to put their bets on Sunny. All knowing full well that Sunstreaker was going to get his skid plate handed to him, but not caring.

True to form the cycle repeated. It took a lot longer this time because once the first game was over it dawned on Sunny that maybe he shouldn't have let her be the one to program the thing for the game. As a result he claimed that she'd had an unfair advantage and that they redo the game with him as the programmer. Alyssa reset the thing for him and told him to have at it. The whole audience was treated to watching him try and program the thing and then fail miserably more than once. Eventually he got the thing up and running but it took him half an hour to do what it had taken Alyssa five minutes. Most folks drifted off during that to get snacks and drinks and wound up in the commissary. I was in there making a raid on the sodas with Optimus getting him self something.

"So how long do you think they are going to be able to keep this up?" I asked as I fished for the ice.

"That depends on Alyssa largely," He answered.

"Why do you say that?" I dumped the blocks into a glass and turned back to him.

"Because, I know exactly how long Sunstreaker will stay at something like this. Which by the way is just shy of forever or until he finally wins." He paused and took a drink of his own stuff, "So it all depends on how long she can keep this up."

"Well if that's the case then they are gonna be at this all bloody night, because she doesn't give up either."

We just about to head back when once again we heard the wail of utter humiliation coming from a certain gold Lamborghini. Every one in the in the commissary stopped what they were doing, looked at each other and then took off in the direction of the lounge as quickly as size and dignity allowed.  
What we found when we got there was a furious Sunstreaker in the throws of defeat. He had programmed the game so that she would have the smallest, least armed player that was possible. After he made sure that he would have the exact opposite. Despite all of that, she was STILL winning. Optimus and I made it back into the room in time to see his flag ship go down and Sunny drop the controller in shock.

"How…?" Was all he managed to get out.

Alyssa did the blow on your fingernails and shine them on your shirt thing, "Hey when you got it, you got it."

"That's not FAIR!!" He whined.

"Neither is life big guy," She grinned again, "Well you wanna keep going or have you had enough?"

She got her answer in the form of, "SIDESWIPE get you're aft over here and set up the next game!"  
The red Lamborghini appeared counting his credits with a very happy smirk on his face. Most people had bet on his brother and he had collected all of the proceeds.

A few seconds later he had the next game set up and wandered over to sit down next to me and Optimus.

"So?" I demanded as I looked up at him.

"So what?"

"So how much money have you made off of seeing your twin brother get humiliated by a human girl?" I snickered back.

"OH! That," he shrugged, "What can I say; I've always managed to get some kind of profit off of his ego. Don't worry; I'll split it with him."

"As soon as his current pet obsession wears off," Prime added from his spot near me.

"Ain't that the truth," Siders grinned.

"So what have you got them playing now?" I craned my neck to try and see.

"Well we have your hospitality to Prowl, Bluestreak and Jazz to thank for this current game selection."

That took a second to register; when it did I put my face in my hand and groaned.

"Pikmin? You set pikmin up for them?"

He nodded vigorously making him self look like one of those silly bobble head dolls, "Yep, pikmin 2 actually. Challenge mode."

I buried my head against Optimus' shoulder, "Kill me now please."

He laughed at me shook his head and returned his attention to watching my friend hand Sunny his butt at yet another game. I wondered just how much longer the two of them could keep this up, having the feeling that no one was going to get any sleep that night.


	5. Suds in The Bucket: Part 5

Suds in the Bucket: Part 5

I turned out to be right about the no one getting any sleep thing. Every one stayed on as long as possible to watch just how many times that Sunstreaker could get defeated by Alyssa. I do believe that they went through every video game known to man kind in the space of the hours that they spent doing this. At one point I was leaning back against Optimus when something occurred to me. He promptly noticed to look on my face and asked me about it.

"Hey," He poked me lightly on the arm, "What's the worried look for?"

I jumped a bit and then looked back up at him, "Oh…! Sorry, I was just hoping that the overgrown cap gun and company don't suddenly decide to attack us during all of this?"

"Hmmm… don't think they will." He told me.

"How can you be so sure, this would be the perfect opportunity?" Now I was thinking like him.

"Because, I do believe that they are in the process of enjoying this spectacle as much as all of us." He pointed up.

"What are you talking about?" I looked in the direction he was pointing and saw two mechanical birds sitting up there in the rafters. Each one had a little camera sticking out of its head and they were in the process of watching what all was going on.

"Uhh… Optimus what are those?"

"Laserbeak and Buzzsaw," he answered flatly.

"And how long have they been there?"

He grinned, "All night."

"You're not worried about them spying on the rest of the base?" I asked.

"Well I was, and then I noticed they weren't moving."  
I looked back up at the metal buzzards and saw that indeed they hadn't moved an inch. They were completely and utterly enthralled by what was going on below them.

"So exactly how many people on either side has Sunstreaker pissed off?"

"Why do you ask?" Optimus said innocently.

"Just wondering why so many people are so keen on seeing this." I told him.

"Well to answer your question, A lot."

"Nice to know that you people get along so very well with each other," I looked back up at the birds.

They still hadn't moved. I shook my head at them and went back to watching the current match involving that old game Galaga. Three guesses who was winning.

This continued for quiet a while. I noticed the birds at about 10:30 pm. They were finally finished some time around three that morning. The tourney came to an end with an excited whoop from one Gold Lamborghini.

"HA! I finally won! I beat you, I beat you!" He seemed quite pleased with him self.

So pleased that he jolted me out of the doze I had been in, startled Optimus back to coherency. Finally he even managed to get Sideswipe to wake up from where he had been sleeping on one of the couches behind the two of them.

"Wha?" He blinked at them, "Whassamatter?"

"OOOOOOOOOOh!" I sat up and stretched having gotten stiff as the proverbial post.

"I WON!" Sunny announced.

That was when a loud yawn came from Alyssa who was still perched next to him, looking half conscious and about ready to pass out into her cup of coffee.

"Yeah," She muttered, "you beat me."

"HA!" Sunny stated again.

She continued to look at him with a completely flat expression, "At Pong."

That registered and sent me into fits of giggles all over again. For some reason Sunstreaker couldn't understand why we were all slightly less than impressed by this.

"Why are all of you laughing? I WON!"

Prime smiled and shook his head and I managed to finally compose my self.

"No Sunny that's fine, congratulations. Really," I looked at the clock, "Well folks I hate to be a party pooper but I'm going to bed."

Another yawn from my friend, "Ditto, I've never been so tired in all of my life. And my folks are coming in tomorrow."

"Then you'd better get to bed," Wheeljack finally chimed in from where he'd been sitting.

Something occurred to me again and I looked up to find both of the birds still there but both of them asleep and out cold.

"Hadn't we better put the birds out folks?" I motioned.

"One second," Sideswipe thumped on the wall and they woke up, "Go home."

Both birds gave large birdie yawns and headed out the nearest air shaft.  
"Dose that happen a lot around here?" I asked.

"You'd be surprised."

Sunstreaker mean while was way to pleased with him self, "I won."

"Oh dry up." Alyssa muttered, "you won cus' I'm half asleep ya big yellow goof ball."

"It doesn't matter I still beat you! HA! No perfect record of games for you!"

"Oh I'm so impressed, one game out of 25." She yawned again and was promptly picked up and carried off by Wheeljack.

Sideswipe grabbed hold of his brother and began to tug him in the direction of the rooms.

"Come on winner boy, time to get some recharge."  
I shook my head at him as they walked off and gave my own huge yawn, "Oh we might as well stay up. Morning's only three hours away."

"No, let's get what sleep we can. Primus only knows how insane things are going to get."

"Why?" I asked, "Cus' of the 'Cons or cus of Alyssa's parents."

"Good question," Optimus replied, "I wish I had a good answer to go with it."

"Well I guess it doesn't matter in the long run I suppose" I stretched again and motioned to the rooms, "Come on big guy lets go see if we can get some peace and quiet."

"What around here?" He looked at me amazed, "you're kidding right?"

We headed off to the rooms to find most people still there sleeping. The tourney had been a great deal of fun but most people didn't possess the stamina to sit there through twenty five different video games. They had slowly trickled off one at a time but it had been some thing to watch while it was still going on.

We made it to our quarters and were on the verge of getting to sleep when we heard the "victorious hero" and his brother go walking down the halls.

"I WON EVERYBODY!" He announced.

"WILL YOU SHUT UP!" This came from Ratchet.

"I dun give a slag! Git to bed ya carn sarned brat!" This was from Ironhide.

"If you don't be quiet I'm going to make you watch Killer Shrews!" This was from Hound of all people.

There were several other comments as they made their way down the hallway.

"DRY UP!!" This was from Bluestreak.

"Oh you're a fine one to talk!" Sunny shot back.

"Sunstreaker, be quiet and leave him alone or I'm going to make you!" that was from Prowl of all people.

I put my head on Optimus' shoulder and listened to all of this, "So how long do you think they can keep this up?"

"All night," he muttered back.

"Charming," I buried my face against him."

"I won!" Sunny sang as he got to his room.

"Sunstreaker, Shut up." Sideswipe told him and then proceeded to haul him into his room.


	6. Suds in The Bucket: Part 6

Suds in the Bucket: Part 6

The next morning came and this found Alyssa and Wheeljack getting up, getting presentable and then heading out to the airport to at least meet her folks there. I was pretty sure that the woman would have rather faced down Megatron again then deal with what would most likely be coming from her step dad. I like him, sorta, but I think he'd enjoy life a lot more if he weren't so serious all the time.

Taking into consideration that this mess was partially my fault to begin with, I thought that I should go with her and do the best I could to keep any serious damage from happening. Optimus of course wanted to come with me, so all four of us headed out to the Portland International and waited for the every one to make it there. Or rather this is what we intended to do in theory. In fact we nearly had to threaten to tie Alyssa up and drag her there, to get her to agree to go.

So rather than her parents walking out into the parking lot to meet a pair of rational young women, they came walking out of the terminal to find me leaning against a "Truck" looking exasperated and Alyssa standing there yelling at a "Car" at the top of her lungs.

"I didn't want to do this I CAN'T believe that you made me come here!"

"Alyssa," That made her move the glare of doom from the car over to me, "Some one had to be here to pick up your folks."

"No they didn't." She snorted.

That was when they walked up and caught sight of her.

"Alyssa?" This was her mom.

My friend visibly winced and turned around to meet the gaze of her parent. "Hi mom."

"Uhh.. Hi," The woman blinked and then looked over at me, "Hi Angel."

"Hey there," I waved and continued to lean against Optimus.  
That was when her step dad marched up followed by her real father.

"There you are," Her dad chimed, "So come on now, where is he?"

They spent a few more seconds getting every thing caught up and every one filled in on what had happened and where I had disappeared to. Her step father demanded to know why she felt compelled to get involved and tried to go into some rant about her not being trust worthy. Thankfully before he could get very far into that, her mother chimed in again.

"So there's just one thing I want to know," She asked.

"What's that mom?" Alyssa asked.

"Why were you standing out here in the middle of the parking lot yelling at this car? And by the way where did you get a car in the first place."

She swallowed and looked at me; I just shrugged and shook my head at her. Alyssa turned back to her folks and proceeded to come clean.

"Its," She motioned to the car, "My boyfriend."

He mom didn't get it, none of them did, "okay first off, that doesn't explain why you were yelling at the car, and secondly …When did you get a boyfriend?"

She took a deep breath and then started over, "First off, I met my guy when I went off to find Angel."

This resulted in me getting some strange looks from all of the parents concerned. I merely smiled, waved and nodded for her to continue with her explanation.

"As for the car, I didn't say that it belonged to my boyfriend I said I _was_ my boyfriend."

Now she got blank looks again as all three of them tried to process exactly what this might mean. I stood there and grinned at Optimus wondering how long it would be before the hurricanes hit. It didn't take long.

"WHAT do you MEAN the CAR is your boyfriend!?" Her step dad finally roared.

"I mean exactly what it sounds like I mean." She told them.

"But what do you mean?" Her real dad got out.

This is when I came over and interjected, "Hold on a second."

All eyes turned to me.

I swallowed and then continued, "I think that it would be easier to show you than try and explain it all to you."

"Show us?" her step dad echoed.

"Yeah," I turned to face Optimus and Wheeljack, "Go on you two, do your stuff."

I couldn't see their faces in their alt modes but I know both of them must have had evil grins plastered there. A few seconds later they were there in their real modes and again despite the masks, I got the impression that they were grinning ear to ear.

"This is what she meant." I motioned up to them, "I'd like to introduce Wheeljack and Optimus Prime."

Three mouths hit ground Zero and I felt compelled for some strange reason to keep on going. What my problem was I have no idea, and we'd all have been a lot happier if I'd just kept my trap shut. But I felt that they should know what was going on and so I leveled with them.

"Their Transformers." The grin of the smitten crossed my face, "Jack' Is with Alyssa and Optimus is mine."

"Your's?" Her mother echoed, "Wanna tell me what you mean exactly by yours?"

"Mine, You know as, significant other, spouse, husband, want me to keep going?"

For a second I thought the woman was going to faint, I thought her step dad's head was going to do an impression of the guy in "Scanners" and I don't know what look her real dad had on his face. It eventually morphed into some kind of strange lil' grin and He shook his head at us.

"Well I guess I can't complain too much, I mean he is a guy." He grinned wider. "That's pretty much all that's required."

"All that's required!" Alyssa's step dad proceeded to explode, "What do you mean that's all that's required. He's …. He's some kind of metal freak! They both are!! Its just plain sick that some one would want to have a relationship like that!"

Now I turned and almost snarled at him, "Watch your damned mouth you creep! That's my husband you just called a freak!"

"I don't care what you say! He's no good for her! NIETHER of them are good for either of you!!"

"And how pray tell do you know that!?" Alyssa finally demanded, "Do you have any idea what he did for me?"

"What are you talking about?" Her mom got out.

"This person that you seem to think is a bad influence on me," She turned to glare at her step dad, "This person that you think is no good for me, SAVED my life!"  
Now once again all three of them were stuck there staring at all of us.

"Come again?" He Mom managed.

"You heard me, Wheeljack saved my life." She folded her arms and glared at them, daring any of them to top that.

"And just how pray tell did he do that?" Her step dad snarked.

"He fought Megatron," She told them, "He kept him from killing me and gave Angel time get back into the base and find some where to hide."

"What pray tell is a Mega..what ever you said?" He real dad asked.

"Megatron, He's the one that was trying to kill Angel and Optimus." She narrowed her eyes and continued, "I was there helping and we were trying to get Angel out and away from the bad guys when He surprised us."

"And this guy stopped him from killing your friend and you?" The real dad prompted.

"That's right," She turned to glare at her step father some more and started up again, "If your right and he's so wrong then tell me Mr. Self righteous, Where the heck were you when I was getting guns big enough for me to walk in, pointed in my direction? Oh yeah, and where were you when my best friend went missing and I had to find her? Huh?" She took a deep breath and lit into him, "This guy took me out to find her, _YOU_ wanted me to abandon her and let them have her. Well I've got news for you! He's one of the best things that has ever happened to me, you hear me! And if you don't like it you can take a flying run and go and kiss off!"

Every single person there gapped at her as she whipped around to face Jack.

"Transform," She demanded.

He did what she wanted and a few seconds later she got in and took off. I watched her disappear and had to laugh at the whole mess. Optimus thought the thing was pretty funny to and we both got a good guffaw out of the looks on her Mom and step dad's face. She'd never told them off, and they just stood there in awe of her. She'd done some thing that no one had ever seen coming and enjoyed it. I hoped that she stuck to this and tried to remain by what all she had told them in her little rant.

Optimus transformed and we followed them back to the base. As we pulled up along side of them I got a good look at her. She had her shoes off and her bare feet sticking out of his window, enjoying her self and snuggling into his driver's seat. She no longer cared what any one had to say at that point and I didn't either. It was really great to see her happy and I hoped that every one would stay this way for a while.


	7. Author's Notes and Song Lyrics

Lyrics and Authors notes:

Author's Notes: Thanks for waiting so long for the latest up date folks. The holidays have kept me busy and I haven't had time to write much. They were great and I enjoyed them but its nice to have some free time again. Anyhow, hope you liked this last story. More coming soon, take care. The following are the lyrics that got this story going hope you like them

Lyrics: Suds in the Bucket

She was in the backyard they say it was a little past nine  
When her prince pulled up, a white pickup truck  
Her folks should of seen it comin' it was only just a matter of time  
Plenty old enough, and you can't stop love  
She stuck a note on the screen door "sorry but I got to go"  
That was all she wrote, her mamma's heart was broke  
That was all she wrote, so the story goes

(Chorus) Now her daddy's in the kitchen starin' out the window, scratchin' and a rackin' his brains  
How could 18 years just up and walk away?  
Our little pony-tailed girl grown up to be a woman  
Now shes gone in the blink of an eye  
She left the suds in the bucket and the clothes hangin' out on the line

Now don't you wonder what the preacher's gonna preach about sunday mornin' Nothing quite like this has happened here before  
Well he must have been a looker, smooth talkin' son of gun  
For such a grounded girl to just up and run   
Course you can't fence time, and you can't stop love

(2nd Chorus) Now all the bitties in the beauty shop gossip goin' non stop Sippin on pink lemonade  
How could 18 years just up and walk away?   
Our little pony-tailed girl grown up to be a woman  
Now shes gone in the blink of an eye  
She left the suds in the bucket and the clothes hangin' out on the line

(3rd chorus) She's got her pretty little bare feet hangin' out the window And they're headed up to Vegas tonight  
How could 18 years just up and walk away  
Our little pony tailed girl growed up to be a woman  
Now she's gone in the blink of an eye  
She left the suds in the bucket and the clothes hangin' out on the line  
She left the suds in the bucket and the clothes hangin' out on the line

She was in the backyard they say it was a little past nine  
When her prince pulled up, a white pick up truck  
Plenty old enough, and you can't stop love  
No you can't fence time, and you can't stop love


End file.
